Posts tagged ‘vegetables’
Friday Feast: Mango Pico de Gallo
This home-made salsa is based on a mango pico de gallo we used to eat when we lived in Texas. It was my first foray into pico de gallo ever (I know! But I’m Australian and it’s not something we typically eat here.). It was from HEB. Don’t look like that. It was good! Especially with those Tostitos cups or fresh made tortillas. You can’t get fresh made tortillas in Brisbane unless you make them yourself. I miss them. I miss Tostitos cups too.
I eat this pico de gallo piled on Mission corn chips/strips which I heat in the oven. In my pre-vegan days, I’d put cheese on top, but I find that it doesn’t taste that different. The heated corn chips add a really rustic flavour to the bright salsa. I also sometimes eat the salsa as an accompaniment to beans and rice. Or as a dip. Or on a spoon.
Yankee Elv has a weird genetic thing that makes coriander (cilantro) taste like soap, so we substitute parsley for coriander. However, if you don’t have that weird genetic thing, you like coriander and you’d like to be authentic, then that’s what should really be used.
Mango Pico de Gallo
Ingredients:
- 2 mangoes, diced
- 1 red onion, diced
- 5 – 6 tomatoes, with the cores discarded and the outer flesh diced for use
- 2 green chilis, diced finely (include the seeds if you like more heat)
- 1 red chili, diced finely (include the seeds if you like more heat)
- a handful of chopped parsley leaves
- lime juice, to taste
Method:
- Stir all the chopped fruit/veges together in a bowl.
- Add the parsley and lime juice and combine.
THE END! Easiest recipe ever. 
Vegan Attempts @ The Jetty Oxford
I went to a work lunch at a place not of my choosing today. But I wasn’t paying the bill, so I’m not complaining too much!
We went to The Jetty Oxford, at Bulimba. It’s right near the ferry dock. It had big fat no vegan food. Except, I think, chips and maybe olives. There may have been a salad they could have removed the cheese and dressing from. Er… appetising for a lunchtime meal? I think not.
So I talked to the waitress and she talked to the chef, and he was not helpful. But I think I took him unawares, because about two mins later he had the waitress come back out and offer to make me a mysterious risotto. I agreed.
Here it is:
I think it had fennel, asparagus, apple and maybe mint? The sauce was made from peas. That is not something I would typically choose ever, considering I don’t particularly like peas or asparagus and I’ve actually never eaten fennel. However, the chef didn’t know that and it was very good if you discount the fact that the flavours were not particularly to my personal liking (and actually, I found the flavours were not even too bad). It was infinitely better than chips, olives or nude, boring salad for lunch.
So thank you, The Jetty Oxford chef!
The moral of the story? You should never be afraid to ask if the chef can offer anything vegan, cos they just might!
Friday Feast: Pumpkin Pie Spice Muffin Tops
These were meant to be cookies. I followed the recipe completely! But they’re way too cakey. They don’t look like the picture in the recipe I veganised. I don’t know what happened… maybe it’s cos I made my own pumpkin puree*? Or could it have been the veganisation? I don’t think it was due to my reduction in white chocolate chips or making my own pumpkin pie spice (you can’t buy it in Australia!).
Anyway, regardless of whether or not they turned out how they were supposed to, they taste good. Just call ‘em muffin tops and eat ‘em all up!
This recipe makes about 36 cookies.
Pumpkin Pie Spice Muffin Tops
Ingredients:
- 2-¼ cups plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsps pumpkin pie spice
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup vegan margarine, softened
- 1 cup white/raw sugar (we used low GI cane sugar, which is similar to raw sugar)
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 cup pumpkin puree (I made my own from a grey pumpkin)
- egg replacer for a whole egg (we used Orgran’s No Egg)
- 1 tsp vanilla essence (imitation is fine)
- 1 cup vegan white chocolate chips (or chunks, in our case – we cut up some vegan white chocolate)
- Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
- Cream the margarine and sugars.
- Add the pumpkin, egg, and vanilla to the wet ingredients and combine thoroughly.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
- When all ingredients are combined, stir in the chocolate chips.
- Drop small spoonfuls (slightly heaped teaspoonfuls) of dough on a non-stick cookie sheet, then place in the fridge for 5 to 10 mins before baking.
- Place in the oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
- Cool for a couple minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.
Friday Feast: Rajmah Gobi Curry
This is a dish I made a few weeks ago with whatever I happened to have in the house. Clearly, I had a lot of cauliflower (gobi). It tastes good with basmati rice, but I also enjoyed this curry as a filling in a wrap.
When I made it, I let it simmer on the stove for about an hour while I was cooking something different for Mr Teeny-bop’s dinner and baking dessert. The long simmering time really made a difference – the curry would have been quite watery otherwise. If you want to make this with less cooking time, I’d reduce the coconut milk and chopped tomatoes – possibly using as little as half as much.
Chickpeas would also go well in this – in fact, that’s what I was originally going to use, but we didn’t have any! Kidney beans (rajmah) tasted great instead.
Rajmah Gobi Curry
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cauliflower
- 1/2 red capsicum
- 1/2 green capsicum
- 1/2 cup peas
- 400g can chopped tomatoes
- 400mL can coconut milk
- 400g can kidney beans
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tab lemon juice
- black pepper to taste
- 1 tab vegan margarine
- 2 tab curry powder
- oil
Method:
- Heat oil in large pan over medium-high heat and fry onions until slightly brown.
- Reduce heat to medium and add garlic, curry powder and tomatoes. Combine and simmer for 2 minutes.
- Add cauliflower, beans, lemon juice, salt, pepper and half of the coconut milk. Simmer for 6 to 8 minutes.
- Add capsicum, margarine and the other half of the coconut milk. Simmer for as long as you want – up to an hour – until the curry reaches a consistency you like. The chickpeas should be soft and the cauliflower tender.
- At the end, add the peas for just long enough to cook through. (If you leave them in there too long, they’ll get mushy and gross.)
- Serve with rice or flat bread. Yum!
Vegan Fast Food
Vegans and fast food don’t often go together. There are exceptions, like Lord of the Fries in Melbourne, but those kinds of places are far and few between. Takeaway food from regular restaurants is a bit expensive to eat very often.
So usually I make my own fast food.
This is what I had for lunch the other day:
- Roasted sweet potato (I had two in the basket in the pantry starting to get a bit old, so I roasted them up to eat as I pleased)
- Refried beans with jalapenos (thanks Old El Paso!)
- Mexi-beans (thanks again Old El Paso!)
- Mexican style express rice (this time, Uncle Ben’s was my friend)
- Roasted capsicum salsa (I’m taking out shares in Old El Paso).
So these aren’t the most eco-friendly items I’ve ever eaten… two things from cans, one in a plastic packet and one from a jar… but aside from the rice packet, it’s all recyclable and/or reusable, which is more than you can say for the paper/cardboard/plastic/styrofoam packaging you get from places like Macca’s.
It’s also loads healthier.
And it was fast! It took me less than 5 mins to make. Sometimes that’s what you want. Plus, there’s leftovers!!
But best of all, it was tasty. Nommmmm….
Friday Feast: Olive and Butter Bean Spread
The basis for this recipe comes from a cookbook my ex-colleagues got me when I left my previous job. You know you’re leaving friends when they give you a book called Vegan Italiano as a goodbye present. What champs.
We initially made this hoping it would be an acceptable substitute for Yankee Elv’s old favourite, cream cheese and green olive sandwich. It’s not the same (you can’t really mimic cream cheese with beans), but I like it better. The cream cheese used to be quite heavy, whereas this is light and perfect for warm days, especially straight out of the fridge. I’ve kept this in the fridge for a week without it going bad. It might keep longer than that, but I’m not sure as it’s never lasted that long!
This recipe is nearly the same as what’s in the book, but we increased the lemon juice, onion and olives. I’m not a lemon-y kind of person, but the addition of a little extra lemon gives this spread a really fresh flavour. We also usually use kalamata olives (the original recipe calls for green or black olives), but I think we tried green ones once and they were nice too. Plus we mix the onions and olives in – the recipe says they should be used as a garnish. Weird.
I especially like it spread on sourdough or grainy quinoa and flaxseed toast. Yum!
Olive and Butter Bean Spread
Ingredients
- 425g (16oz) can butter beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 tab extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tab lemon juice
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 to 3 tabs diced red onion
- 2 to 3 tabs chopped kalamata olives
- toast, whatever kind you like
Method
- Place the beans, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a food processor and whiz until smooth.
- Mix in the onion and olives. (You can process them if you want, but personally I think the flavour gets a bit lost without the little pieces.)
- Spread on toast and eat it all up!
Friday Feast: Sweet Potato Pinwheels
Did any of you Americans ever get those Everyday with Rachael Ray magazines? They used to have a reader-submitted section called Take 5. You used five ingredients or less to make some yummy dish.
Here’s mine.*
Sweet Potato Pinwheels
Ingredients (all measurements are approximate)
- Small sweet potat0
- 2 tabs non-dairy milk
- 2 tsps vegan margarine
- 2 heaped tabs brown sugar (I used dark brown)
- 1 sheet vegan puff pastry (Borg’s is vegan, as listed on my Accidentally Vegan page)
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Take the pastry sheet out and defrost according to instructions on the packet.
3. While the pastry is defrosting, use a fork to poke holes in the sweet potato and put it on a microwave safe plate. Cook the sweet potato in the microwave for about 6 mins, turning half way through.
4. Scoop the flesh of the sweet potato out into a bowl and mash thoroughly.
5. Add non-dairy milk, margarine and brown sugar. Combine with the sweet potato.
6. Spread the sweet potato mixture evenly over the pastry.
7. Roll the pastry up.
8. Slice the roll into pieces and place onto a greased baking tray.
9. Bake until the pastry is golden brown.
Super tasty and super easy and super quick! Plus it’s vegan. Yum.
*Not really… I never entered one. But I could enter this one if I wanted to!
Friday Feast: Quinoa Puttanesca
I found this recipe on the Post Punk Kitchen Blog, and I knew I just had to try it! I’m all for figuring out new ways to eat ‘alternative’ grains, and quinoa is such a good one, since it’s a complete protein and gluten free. (I like to keep my gluten down.)
This recipe includes wine. Remember, when cooking with wine, the flavour intensifies, so choose a wine you like to drink.
I tweaked the recipe slightly – slightly increased the tomato, added sun-dried tomatoes and roasted capsicum, and reduced the capers – but otherwise it is the same thing. The taste of the olives and capers comes through strongly, so if you don’t like them (yes Mum, this would be you), then this dish would not be something I’d recommend. However, if you love the taste, as I do, then it’s fabulous.
I was surprised by how spicy (hot) it was. It seemed more like a matriciana than a puttanesca to me, but then it’s been a while, so maybe I’m remembering incorrectly. If you don’t like spicy food (yes Mum, that’s you again), I would suggest reducing or eliminating the crushed red pepper flakes. If, like me, you love spicy food – and I’m a spice wimp, but I still love it – then this is the perfect dish for you!
Quinoa Puttanesca
Quinoa Puttanesca, still hot and steamy.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- generous pinch tarragon
- generous pinch marjoram
- 1/4 cup wine (I used white because that’s what was open, but red would work too)
- 1/2 cup kalamata olives, roughly chopped (sliced in half is great)
- 1/4 cup capers
- 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped small
- 1/4 cup roasted capsicum, cut into strips
- 600g (21oz) can crushed tomatoes
- black pepper, to taste
- 2 to 3 cups of cooked quinoa*
Method
- Heat the oil in a good-sized pot over medium heat.
- Add the garlic and stir for about a minute, being careful not to burn it.
- Add herbs, spices and wine; cook for about a minute.
- Add olives, capers, crushed tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes and roasted capsicum. Simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes.
- Reserve a few ladelfuls of sauce to put on top of each serving.
- Mix the quinoa into the remaining sauce in the pot.
- Serve in individual bowls with a spoonful of the reserved sauce on top. Yum!
I used red quinoa because I thought it matched the sauce better, but you could use white or black quinoa and it would work just the same.
*Note: To cook the quinoa, rinse about a cup of uncooked quinoa to remove any residual bitterness. Put the quinoa in a pot with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and cook uncovered for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the grain is tender and the water has been absorbed.
Friday Feast: Home Fries
This side dish (or main dish, take your pick) something that Yankee Elv makes, which she learned to make from her dad. It’s called Home Fries, because basically it’s something people make in their own home. You can put anything (but always potatoes) in a pan and fry it up and that’s all it is. Everyone has their own recipe for Home Fries and no-one is right and no-one is wrong. That’s the cool thing. You can’t really mess it up, unless you cook the potato too long and they get mushy or soggy, but otherwise… you’re set!
Home Fries
Freshly cooked home fries.
Ingredients:
- oil
- Potatoes, chopped roughly into 1 inch chunks (canned are easy if you can find them, or boiled/steamed until they’re soft enough to cut through easily)
- Onion(s), sliced into quarter rings
- Whatever other veges you want (the batch in the picture has capsicum, spinach and shallots)
Method:
1. Over medium heat, heat oil in a wide, deep fry pan.
2. Add onions and other firm veges, and cook until just soft.
3. Add softer veges and cook for several minutes.
4. Add potatoes and fry until everything is cooked well (should be soft but not too soft – you don’t want mush).
5. Serve up on a plate, either on their own or more commonly, as a side to another dish. (Works well as a side to scambled tofu).
Notes:
The veges you choose are up to you (aside from potato) I would recommend onion because it adds a great flavour, otherwise, you can put whatever you like in there. Yankee Elv has also made this dish with zucchini, mushroom, carrots, green beans, garlic, spices, chilli, whatever! Just go with what you feel like and what you think will go well with whatever else you’re eating. Increase or decrease amounts, cooking order and cooking time to suit the ingredients and amount you need.
Growing Veges is Not My Forte
I think the title of this post says it all. If you don’t believe the title, have a look at the pictures.
These vegetables are itty bitty.
Clearly, not my forte.
I’m very good at starting gardens. I’m just not so great at finishing them. Well, actually, the finishing isn’t really a problem either. I guess you could say it’s the middle bit – the maintenance – that defies my abilities.
I created my vege garden in the one spot available in my little yard that didn’t already have an established garden. I prepared it beautifully, planted seeds, added fertiliser and watered diligently.
My freshly prepared garden, all ready for me to plant in.
I was very excited to find seedlings coming up.
Butternut pumpkin seedling.
I especially liked the pumpkin plants – they grew so fast! I’m very much an instant gratification kind of girl, so rapidly-growing plants really appeal to me.
Young butternut pumpkin plants.
The problem with gardens is you can’t just spend a few weeks taking care of them and then leave them. Which is inevitably what happens with me. It’s what happened this time. I watered and weeded very well until work went crazy and I started working stupid hours (like until 2am sometimes). Then sleep came ahead of weeding and watering, so the plants had to fend for themselves.
This happens to me every time I start a garden. Without fail. I knew this going in, so I purposely planted them in a place where they would get rain and sunshine so they could technically be a bit self-sufficient, and clearly the weeds had no problem growing, so they would be ok.
In fact, for a while, my veges were ok.
Then the pumpkin vines started to get white splotches on them (which one of my colleagues tells me was likely mould – apparently this is a common issue Queensland pumpkin-growers face). All the little pumpkins (except one) rotted. Something started eating the sweet potato leaves. The carrots and spring onions got lost amongst the weeds. The only thing that seemed to be hanging on was the nasturtiums.
Overgrown garden, with the butternut pumpkin vines in the foreground, as they begin their descent into death...
I pretty much gave it up as a bad job.
But several months after planting, I came across the little notations I’d optimistically made in my diary: ‘Carrot Harvest!’ and things like that. So I thought it wouldn’t hurt to dig the little suckers up and see what was under the ground.
When I got down to the garden, I thought maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all. The carrot tops were long and green and lovely. Pity about the carrots underneath.
My stunted carrots - lovely long green tops, miniature roots.
Diva politely sat by the veges to give you a better idea of scale.
Diva showing the vegetables to scale.
Yes, the carrots are about 3cm (just over an inch) long.
Tiny carrots and pumpkin.
The lone butternut pumpkin – looking gargantuan beside the carrots – was about 12cm (nearly 5 inches) long.
My tiny pumpkin.
I also planted about 20 spring onions. They all died, except for one that grew to about the size of a chive.
No, it's not a chive. It's a spring onion. Yeah.
I didn’t pick it.
The sweet potatos are still going, but they are very chewed up. The nasturtiums are battling on (like Xena).
The thing about my gardening is that every time I do it, although I suck at it, I always suck a little bit less. I learn something every time. I will know, next time, to plant my pumpkins in a much airier place, so they don’t get too damp. I will know that green tops on the carrots doesn’t mean the roots are making much headway. I will know that spring onions hate me: they don’t grow in pots on the verandah for me, they don’t grow in the garden for me… but I am going to find a place where they do grow. Maybe in pots out in the open.
I’d be interested in anyone’s opinion on how to stop whatever it is eating my sweet potato vine. I think I can still salvage it. I saw a shiny, flea-sized bug on a leaf once, but otherwise I haven’t seen any bugs or caterpillars or anything on the leaves at all.
On the bright side, even though my vege gardening this time around was a fail, I still got to eat the pumpkin.
Tasty little pumpkin.
Yankee Elv cut it open and it looked just like a normal butternut pumpkin, just tiny.
The pumpkin looked normal inside, just miniscule.
So she made me butternut pumpkin chips. They were a delicious little snack!
Tiny little chips from a tiny little pumpkin. (Roasted and sprinkled with salt.)
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